Bāhubali: The Beginning (2015)

I love this movie so much

Pretty Good

The acting in this movie is really good.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A baby is found in the river by a village that lives at the bottom of a gigantic waterfall. He is adopted, named Shivudu, and not told of his history. Shivudu (played by Prabhas) spends his life trying to climb to the top of the waterfall. When he finally succeeds, he finds the large kingdom of Mahishmati, and falls in love with a girl (played by Tamannaah) from a rebel group who are trying to rescue their queen from Mahishmati's evil king. Shivudu, brave and fearless, vows to rescue the queen himself.Despite the predictable plot, this Telugu action-drama is all around fantastic. The acting was solid, the scenery and settings gorgeous, and the music (songs and incidental) excellent. Some of the CGI animals weren't fully credible, but the rest of the CGI usage looked natural and impressive. The action scenes generally looked believable, and were always exciting. Overall, for viewers comfortable with violent action films, this is a movie not to be missed.

I am not Indian but I loved this film. It has so many great characters and beautiful scenes. There is singing, dancing, romance, humor, drama, battles, action, strong character development, attention to detail, and great acting. I read one review that said it was overrated and overdone but like what more do you want? You want the same old cliche American movies with the same actors doing the same old things again? End of the world? Some government conspiracy? Some ridiculous comedy nothing else? No thanks. I want something new and fresh. Something with all the things I listed above in the first paragraph. This movie has it. I was a little worried at first but once I started watching I did not want to to turn it off. The main character, Baahubali, is immediately likable. I was rooting for him the entire movie. The villains play their parts so well. Even the minor characters are great in this film. I wish there was more time to give each of them. This movie is like the Red Cliff of Chinese historical movies. Done so well with so much ingenuity and creativity. Treat yourself to something knew and don't listen to the haters' reviews. Even if you are not Indian you can enjoy this film.

I guess, I am in a very small minority here who really disliked this movie. It was a pain to sit through this looong movie. The four stars are only for the waterfall and statue scenes. As far as acting is concerned, Katappa and the grandmother of Baahubali were the ones who were okay. The heroine was average, too. Totally inspired from Mahabharat. I would rather watch B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat T.V. series than this irritating 'opus'.

Not being all that familiar with Indian cinema or pop culture, I really didn't know what to expect when I added this to my Netflix queue, just that it looked colorful and might be entertaining. Being not all that fond of musicals, I almost bugged out of the movie about fifteen or twenty minutes in.But something made me stick with it, and I'm glad I did.Take one part "Machiste" muscleman sword-and-sandal flick, one part "Lord of the Rings", add a liberal dose of Shakespearean tragedy, and season the result a bit too heavily (for my taste, anyway) with lavish musical numbers (Okay, I did like the Mahishmati anthem: It's a stirring and very catchy composition.) Garnish with some jaw-dropping wackiness -- from a Western perspective, anyway -- and you've got "Baahubali".I have to admit I found the second movie somewhat better than the first, but by the end of "Baahubali: The Beginning" I was captivated by its larger-than-life characters and epic storytelling. This and its sequel are well worth watching, even if like me you're not a big fan of Bollywood films.